Last year we noted an exhibition of photographs by Dennis L. Hughes, who captured thousands of images of Amish life. This exhibition, at Elizabethtown College (Lancaster County, PA) has returned, and is currently running until August 4th. If you’d like to view the collection here’s more on how to do that, along with a link to the online exhibition: Amish Life in Focus: The Dennis…
A viewer recently asked if Amish marriages are arranged on the Amish America YouTube channel. And the answer to that is a definitive “no”. Odds are you already knew the answer to this one. But I can kind of see where the question might come from – when looking at this religious society, which certainly must appear “strict” to some, from the outside. The…
Gloria Yoder opens up in the new Amish Cook column today about the loss of her husband Daniel. I know a lot of readers have been following this story and will want to know what Gloria has to share in this time of great loss. It has now been two weeks since Daniel died in a backyard accident. Here’s the first part of Gloria’s latest…
Lancaster Online reached out to Steven Nolt of the Young Center at Elizabethtown College on when Amish weddings take place in Lancaster County and related settlements. He provided some data based on the Amish publication Lancaster Gemeinde Brief, which is a church newsletter. Autumn and specifically November is traditionally the most common time for Amish weddings in Lancaster County and related settlements. Here are Amish…
Amish baby-naming customs draw upon several sources. Many baby names are what you could term “traditional” names (Biblical names and family names). But in certain communities, the choice of baby name can also be affected by modern, non-Amish naming trends. Of course, in some settlements and groups they are going to stick with mostly or exclusively traditional names, but in the more progressive places, you…
I do believe this is the largest snowman I’ve ever seen. Amish children in Geauga County put together a towering snowman – about 5 or 6 times taller than the tallest child – over the course of several days. Via FOX8: Resident Hannah Willis said the kids used ladders, shovels, buckets and plywood to create the flat surfaces. Their creation stands more than 30 feet…
Have you ever noticed how the Amish call non-Amish people “English”? Don’t worry, they’re not mistaking you for someone from Great Britain. There’s another explanation. There are also at least a couple more terms that the Amish use for “us” (eg, non-Amish). Let’s look at three of those here. 1. “English” The practice of Amish calling non-Amish people “English” dates back to the colonial era,…
I always enjoy Lovina’s column but this was nice to see – her daughter Susan took over writing duties last week. If you recall, Susan lost her husband Mose over a year ago, leaving behind two small children. In this column, Susan writes about her niece’s school Christmas program and dealing with her loss, among other things: Last night was Abigail’s Christmas program at the…
In this video I take a look at some Amish women’s hair customs, including the difference between a bonnet and a kapp, differences in prayer covering styles, and whether Amish women cut their hair. Runtime: 4:36.
Elam Stoltzfus shares Part 1 of a four-part series on Amish Parochial schools in Pennsylvania. Elam grew up Amish, and we’ve previously seen his work here in his 4-part “Rediscovering the Ausbund” series on the Amish hymn book. This will be published in full at the Plain Values magazine Substack (linked below). In this part, Elam shares his first day of school as an Amish…